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Ludwig Quidde | |
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| Born | (1858-03-23)23 March 1858 |
| Died | 4 March 1941(1941-03-04) (aged 82) |
| Resting place | Munich,Germany |
| Occupations | Politician, historian |
| Political party | German People's Party, German Democratic Party, Radical Democratic Party |
Ludwig Quidde (German pronunciation:[ˈluːtvɪçˈkvɪdə]ⓘ; 23 March 1858 – 4 March 1941) was a German politician andpacifist who is mainly remembered today for his acerbic criticism ofGerman EmperorWilhelm II. Quidde's long career spanned four different eras of German history:Otto von Bismarck (until 1890), theHohenzollern Empire under Wilhelm II (1888–1918), theWeimar Republic (1918–1933); andNazi Germany. In 1927, Quidde was awarded theNobel Peace Prize.
Born into a wealthybourgeois merchant family, Quidde grew up inBremen, read history and got involved in the activities of theGerman Peace Society (Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft). In his younger years, he had already opposed Bismarck's policies. In 1881 he received his PhD at theUniversity of Göttingen.
The fortune that Quidde inherited allowed him to devote himself entirely to politics. In 1893, he joined theGerman People's Party (DtVP), which was founded in 1868 and met hisanti-militarist, anti-Prussian, democratic andpacifist expectations.[1]
In 1894, Quidde published a 17-pagepamphlet,Caligula. Eine Studie über römischen Caesarenwahnsinn (Caligula: A Study of Roman Imperial Insanity). Containing 79 footnotes, the short essay is exclusively about theRoman Empire of the 1st century AD. However, Quidde drew an implicit parallel between theRoman EmperorCaligula and Wilhelm II andde facto accused both rulers ofmegalomania. The author had insisted on publishing his pamphlet under his real name, which effectively ended his academic career as a historian when a periodical had a short review, which explained the parallels that otherwise might have gone unnoticed. After he had made a derogatory comment on a new medal in honour ofWilhelm I, German Emperor from 1871 to 1888, he was criminally convicted oflèse majesté and sentenced to three months inprison, which he served inStadelheim Prison.
After the end of theFirst World War, Quidde, like most other Germans, vehemently opposed theTreaty of Versailles but for different reasons from Germanmilitarists, who hated mainly the severe restrictions laid upon theGerman armed forces and the impending economic disaster that they stages would be caused by payment of the high reparations that the tretaty decreed. He and other German pacifists thought ahead and hoped that US PresidentWoodrow Wilson would win the day by pointing out that such severe conditions would already sow the seeds of a new war:
A humiliated and torn German nation condemned to economic misery would be a constant danger to world peace, just as a protected German nation whose inalienable rights and subsistence are safeguarded would be a strong pillar of such world peace.
May those who are in power today think beyond this day and consider the future of mankind. Their responsibility is enormous. Today, an altogether new order can be created for the benefit of all peoples. Short-sighted misuse of that power can ruin everything.[a]
— Quidde, et al., Announcement of the German Peace Society", 15 November 1918
WhenAdolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Quidde escaped toSwitzerland and finally settled down inGeneva for the rest of his days. He remained an optimist throughout his life. Aged 76, he published his essay "Landfriede und Weltfriede" (1934) whilemilitarism was again on the rise. He believed that modern technology might serve as a deterrent from war:
[It is] today's technological development which has turned modern war into a suicidal nightmare and which will put an end to war. This was already predicted byKant, who expected "perpetual peace" to be established not due to the moral perfection of man but due to modern warfare, which would be so unbearable that mankind would see itself forced to guarantee everlasting peace.[b]
Quidde died in his Swiss exile in 1941, aged 82.
including the essay based on the Nobel Lecture of December 12, 1927, "Security and Disarmament"
